Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Guilted into buying?

Have you ever been made to feel guilty in order to be pressured into making a purchase?

You'll recall a few weeks ago I had a bad shopping experience. Well, when I went to pick up my pictures I was very surprised that they had taken it upon themselves to print 5 extra sheets of pictures for $25. They had initially offered me a single sheet of portraits for $20. I had agreed to purchase 1 sheet of wallets for our immediate family.

At the time this happened I was very upset. I mean, why would any company put someone on the spot like that. If I say no to buying these portraits they go to waste. If I say yes, I'm telling this company that its okay to put people on the spot and guilt them into buying pictures they never ordered and might not be able to afford.

In the end I said no, I just can't support this kind of business practice. I even went as far as to email my complaint to the company, using their customer feedback form on their corporate website.

Their defense to this bad business practice was that it is industry standard to send spec sheets at a reduced cost and 90% of the sheets are not returned. I wonder if they ever poll their customers to find out why they bought the pictures.

Its one thing to give the customer a choice to buy sheets at a reduced cost prior to printing them and another to surprise them with pre-printed sheets when they arrive to pick up their purchase. I'm willing to bet that a large majority of those people felt guilty or obligated to purchase the sheets because they had already been printed and would go to waste.

Just because 90% of sheets are sold, does that make it the right thing to do? Has this company gone to far? Am I just overreacting?